So…things are going well then?
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Oh yeah, the energy efficiency/environmental concerns are a big deal for me too. Not much can be done as a renter, I can’t even use the perfectly good composter in the backyard any more so now I am doing a paid service.
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I share this concern, being in an unstable field.
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Half of it is environmental, half of it is comfort. The house doesn’t stay warm in the winter because the giant picture window is single pane and the roof is barely insulated. I brought it up with the landlord because the state does energy inspections and points out all the rebates and he said everything was insulated well enough. Sigh.
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Oh, this is interesting and important thread given all the eviction moratoriums and rental relief situation changes going on.
I’ve been renting for 16 years, and have rented in 4 countries and 8 cities. Also I did my economics thesis on the local rental market so I’m invested 
I have looked and collated data from thousands upon thousands of rental ads.
I like the flexibility of pick-up-to-move, but I was considering buying a few years ago when rental prices were escalating quickly in my town and was in a program called the IDA (Individual Development Accounts, many states have them) where low-income people can get a 3-to-1 match on savings towards a downpayment- unfortunately, even maxing the program out of getting $6,000 match on $2,000 savings in 2 years doesn’t really put a dent in the cost of a down payment in Portland. I ended up converting my IDA to a business IDA and used the match to start a business instead of buy a house.
In the rental prices have stabilized due to some city rules (rental control/stabilization is illegal in my state, but the city has made requirements about “relocation assistance” a landlord must provide if your rent goes up by 10% or more over a 12-month period - previously my rent was increasing by 100% over a 2 year period). They’ve also stabilized because more apartments have been built, so there’s a lot more units on the market then there was in 2014.
Now home prices have skyrocketed so I’m less interested in buying. On a $54,000 annual income, the bottom of the market is about 5x my annual income for a studio condo, and 70% houses for sale are accepting an offer within a week right now.
I enjoy the flexibility of renting and we’ve been very lucky that our current apartment has not had a rent increase every ~17 months when we renew the lease - this is largely due to our renewals coming up when it’s a renter’s market. So we’ve been here for 5 years. This property management company is pretty good and responsive, and not a benevolent slumlord which has been my usual experience. The apartment has a washer/dryer in-unit and a dishwasher, two huge lifestyle upgrades in my life. The bike parking is abysmal and technically not up to code for multi-family dwellings.
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Also…we rent where we live but my SO actually owns a house and was a landlord across town. Right now the house is empty of tenants because it’s going to be torn down and make room for a triplex with an ADU (so 4 units technically). We will live in one unit in the triplex and the other 3 will be rentals.
We have not at all figured out what we are going to do legally around the construction of the triplex and ownership. My income is much, much lower than their income and they’re funding this project entirely themselves - but we’re legally married, so once it gets built I will technically have a claim to the house. So prior to building we may have to do post-nup or form an LLC for me to have fractional ownership based on what I can afford to put in? Not sure what to do about that yet but the permitting that’s been going on for years might actually be coming to a conclusion soon… so… I guess we should figure that out and talk to a lawyer.
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Ha, this is very true. A few years ago we had to let the gas company in for an inspection, our then-landlord came in with them, and when they went to turn on the oven it took a super long time to kick on.
And landlord was like, oh, that needs fixed, is it always like that, you should have let us know. I replied that this oven was SO much of an improvement over the very elderly barely working piece of shit oven we had in our last place that it seemed great by comparison. Like, we don’t even know what good appliances ARE, I don’t think.
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I feel the opposite - whose idea was upper level cabinets?! I can’t reach anything up there.
(though I’m so pro-drawers, we’re having almost all drawers in the “new” kitchen)
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I’m a lifelong renter – heck I never even bought a car until I was 40 – and though I have gone looking here and there, I’m actually super satisfied with my current renting setup and will be happy to stay here at least a few more years. My landlord is conscientious – he bought this house when he was in medical school 10 years ago and lived here and loves the property. He also lives across the state. It’s a good combo!
For what we pay in rent, we could never afford to buy in this neighborhood. Plus we have a good amount of space – a yard and a 3 car garage and 2 cute porches and I’m like 15 mins from work (assuming we ever go back). And I like not being on the hook when stuff breaks – this house is over 100 years old so it’s not uncommon.
Maybe someday I’ll want to buy but honestly the idea stresses me out a bit? I’m super happy here for now!
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Same! Sometimes I think I’ll end up renting forever. I also like the idea of buying a tiny vacation place in cash when I’m way older. That idea appeals to me a lot.
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Hello, I’ve been renting about 20 years now. I lived in 3 great apartment situations, and then moved into a duplex owned by a family member which I stayed in for 13 years. It had super low rent but was a hundred years old and we were basically on our own when it came to fixing anything ever. I currently rent a single family home from a different family member. It’s not as old, but it’s definitely a rental and has had some “hard living.” Because of lower than market rent, I’m not inclined to ask them to upgrade much.
I never thought I’d buy a home, and renting has certainly been key to our financial success, but now with the current market and having kids I’m rethinking renting forever. I don’t want to get the kids in school and then get kicked out of a rental and have to switch them, and I don’t really ever want to move again with kids, except maybe one more time. We have access to a VA loan (no money down, no PMI, no property taxes), so we just have to pay closing costs and the monthly mortgage and insurance. With a low enough interest rate and the plan to stay for many years, I think it could be a good deal.
Reading along with interest!
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In the moderately-sized (70k population) and bigger cities I’ve lived in I’ve had to pay for electricity and could choose through the provider to get all renewable energy. Mostly geothermal/water in one town, and 100% solar here. Maybe something worth looking into in bigger areas?
I’ve also lived in areas that have city composting programs. It definitely has taken some coordinating to do drop offs, but for me at least it wasn’t more hassle than coordinating going to do laundry.
(I now have a mortgage because I could no longer afford rent within my son’s school district)
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This is 100% why I bought a condo this year, and when I finally admitted to myself that emotionally I wanted to spend money on buying rather than trying to make it work financially the decision (for me) was so much easier.
For me it wasn’t about feeling successful as much as it was about being able to make decisions about changing the space. We actually know exactly how much worse the financial decision was to buy since the condo was listed for rent as well as for sale! We’re paying almost $400 more per month with the mortgage/HOA/property taxes than we would have to rent the same unit. Plus we need to save money to pay for anything that breaks in the future, PLUS the opportunity cost of the down payment. So…it was definitely a suboptimal financial choice 
.
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We have composting here with curb pickup but you don’t qualify if you’re in a multi family over 4 units, so renters just don’t get the option. (If you’re not in a small building)
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I think renting is a great option for lots of people, and it went well for me. I rented pretty long term, for about 20 years after college, in 2 different apartments. One was with roommates for a few years, then in a single bedroom by myself. Both were nice enough and well managed, and basically fine, but I always knew I wanted to have a house. On my low-ish income there was no way to rent a nicer or larger apartment or a house, so I saved every penny I could for about 10 years to buy. I knew that financially it was going to need to be an inexpensive fixer upper, so I also saved a bunch of cash for the renovation I would need to do. (I ended up buying a foreclosure that needed a lot of work and paid cash for the remodel.) It was easier for me to save up tax returns and other big chunks than to know I could borrow and pay back a higher amount every month on a small income. My house payment, taxes and insurance were less than my rent was, so I paid the house off pretty quickly. I know it goes against what most people say about early payoff vs investing for retirement, but it’s what makes me comfortable. I simply wanted a paid off house, and I am so happy I did it. Now I am adding about 60% of the house payment amount to my IRA to try to catch up a bit. My payment was really small so it’s not a lot, but it will help.
So… renting was fine, and I definitely enjoyed calling maintenance when something went wrong, but I personally needed a house. It does suck having to adult and deal with and pay for repairs though. There are always pros and cons, but I love owning my little house. And who knows… in 20 years I may very well end up back in a small apartment when I can’t deal with a house any longer.
Here to follow, because I love reading people’s reasoning for decisions.
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Hello, soon-to-be solo renter looking at this thread intensely. It’s good to see that folks have had decent experiences 
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I don’t think multi units are part of curbside here either. We have a bunch of drop off bins at community centers though (that’s where I took mine). Bonus of that versus my pickup bin was not having to clean it out in the summer 
I miss renting and fantasize often about renting again. I definitely cant afford it now though!
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That’s how it is here with recycling. More than 4 units = your building owner has to engage a recycling service privately. And a lot of landlords won’t do it. I’m in a 2-flat now so we get the city bins. Before, I used to, uh, illegally put my recyclables in the neighbors’ recycling dumpster under cover of night, until they started locking it, since my landlord wouldn’t budge. And with no car, it wasn’t really an option for me to haul it myself on public transport.
And composting is completely off the table here unless you pay a private service. Which I’ve just started doing, so we’ll see how that goes. I was glad to see that the compost service works more like what I saw in Seattle, where you can put stuff other than just raw fruit and veg scraps in it.
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Oh interesting. Here they legally have to contract paper, glass, plastic and metal recycling services for renters. (There’s no city waste management for buildings over 5 units, the landlord has to arrange it).
When I lived in a mid-sized Indian city, all waste management was done by individual running it as a business, so you’d have the person that came around to collect glass, a different person for certain types of plastic, etc. The big issue is that because you had to do it yourself, a lot of folks burned their trash instead of pay for it to be dealt with, including plastic.
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